Nathaniel Henderson [ he & his wife Harriet Smart were 1st cousins ]was my
great great uncle & was in 2 different N.C. units & here is his info: ?3rd Calvary
[ 41st State Troops ], North Carolina Cavalry Co. C- Lt. Nathaniel Henderson
13th Regiment, North Carolina Infantry- Co. A Pvt. Nathaniel Henderson
13th Infantry Regiment, formerly the 3rd Volunteers, was organized at Garysburg,
North Carolina, in May, 1861, with 1,100 men. Its members were recruited in
Caswell, Mecklenburg, Davie, Edgecombe, and Rockingham counties. Ordered
to Virginia, the unit was assigned to General Colston's, Garland's, Pender's, and
Scales' Brigade. It shared in the many campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia
from Williamsburg to Cold Harbor, endured the battles and hardships of the
Petersburg trenches south of the James River, and took part in the Appomattox
operations. This regiment totaled 575 effectives in April, 1862, lost 29 killed and
80 wounded during the Seven Days' Battles, and had 41 killed and 149 wounded
in the Maryland Campaign. It reported 37 casualties at Fredericksburg and 216
at Chancellorsville. Of the 232 engaged at Gettysburg, more than seventy-five
percent were disabled. It surrendered 22 officers and 193 men. The field officers
were Colonels Joseph H. Hyman, William D. Pender, and Alfred M. Scales;
Lieutenant Colonels W.S. Guy, Henry A. Rogers, Thomas Ruffin, Jr., and E.
Benton Withers; and Majors John T. Hambrick, D.H. Hamilton, Jr., and T.A.
Martin.
The Nathaniel Henderson Family with the exception of George (B. 1863) are
found on the 1860 Census of Campbell County, GA. All are buried in Antioch
Cemetery except Elisha (Killed in the Civil War) and Tabitha who died in Oklahoman.
Some of Nathaniel's children's are recorded in Campbell County Marriage Records
in the Courthouse in Atlanta, Ga. Nathaniel left Montgomery County, N.C. around
1839 to settle in Campbell county, Ga. In a letter to his bro. Alexander dated
12/5/1869 he stated that his father gave him a mare, a cow, a bed, other furniture
& $160.00 to buy land & later gave him $100.00. The Nathaniel Henderson family
(except Geo. born 1863) is found on the 1860 Campbell County, Ga. census. Joe
& Elizabeth Henderson stated: "We have a picture of Nathaniel & his wife Harriet
with all their sons, daus., son-in-laws, daus.-in-laws & grandchildren. The preacher
& his son are in the picture too. The picture was made @ their home in the yard in
12/1886. All in the picture were identified to us. Amazing that a large family like that
could get together at one time. It is one of our prized possessions.
The following is a letter written by Nathaniel (Campbell County, Ga.) to his bro.
Alexander (Montgomery Cty, N.C. on 12/5/1869 & was translated by Kate (Mrs. P.D.)
Henderson in 1967 & the original is in the administration papers of Joel Henderson on
file in Courthouse in Troy, N.C.
State of Ga., Campbell Cty this 12/5/1869.
Dear Brother, It is once more threw the goodness & mercy of God that I am blest
with this one more opportunity of taking my pen in hand in order to let you know
that I haven't forgotten you yet & to let you know that we are all well @ this time
& hope these few lines may come safe to hand & find you all well & doing well. I
feel @ a loss to know what to write as I haven't heard from you in a long time. The
people is generally well @ this time. Times is hard & money hard to git holt of in
this County. I will give some of the prices of our produce. Corn is worth from $1.00
to $1.40per bushel, wheat 1.50-$2 per bushel, bacon from 22-23 cents per pund,
coffee from 3-1/2-4-1/2 per lb., flour from $3.50-$5.00 per hundred pounds. Dear
Bro. I received a letter from you concerning Father's estate. You wanted me to
estimate what I had had. I can inform you that I had one little mare worth $60.00
& $10 for a cow-1 bed & $160 for land & $100 in Confederate in 8/63. I have had
nothing if they think I have had my part tell them to go ahead I will see them again
& have these things straightened out. If I live till next fall I will sho make these
darus pecock think that there is one that aint afraid of them even if they are old
segregatoinist. I had better stop before I hurt fealings but they will hear from me
again if I live but if I die they can have it for they are pore & need all they can git.
Dear Bro. & Sister I should like to see you & family & converse with you about
old times. I wont you to write how the connection is getting along & wther they
are all well or not. Tell them to write as soon as they can dear bro. I want you to
write as soon as you can if you never see me again I can say to you that I still
feal bound by the grace of God to try to make my way from this to another & a
better world that this & dear bro. & sister if we never see each other again in this
life that when we come to die we may be prepared for death & @ last we may all
meet in heaven where there will no more trials nor troubles there but all will be
peace & harmony there will be no more parling there so nothing more @ present
only I remain your unworthy bro. until death so farewell for this time.